Jean-Pierre Lacroix, of France, takes helm of Peacekeeping Operations

NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 14 – Starting April 1 Jean-Pierre Lacroix, of France will be for one year the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations replacing Hervé Ladsous, who informed Secretary General Antonio Guterres that he would be unavailable for an extension at the end of its current term in March.

Mr. Lacroix is currently the Director for the UN and International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France and has over 25 years of political and diplomatic experience, mostly handling multilateral organizations, UN activities and programmes. Ladsous served as head of DPKO for six years.

“I would like to express my gratitude [to Mr. Ladsous] for his service to the United Nations, his tireless efforts and dedication to peacekeeping, especially in modernizing capacities both to address multidimensional crisis and protect civilian populations,” said Guterres.

The Secretary-General announced also the establishment of an internal review team that will take forward the reforms to the UN Secretariat peace and security strategy, functioning and architecture, which he outlined when he was appointed the Secretary-General last year.

According to a statement issued today by the UN chief’s office, the team will be led by Tamrat Samuel, an Eritrean national who held numerous senior UN appointments. The push for reform comes amid criticism from some UN member states over the appointment of nationals from Security Council permanent members to top posts at the United Nations. France, which strongly supported Guterres during his bid to become secretary-general, and the United States are permanent council members along with Britain, Russia and China.

The review team has been tasked to submit recommendations to the Mr. Guterres by June this year, which will then initiate a process of consultations with UN Member States and other relevant entities. In the statement, he further noted that pending those evolutions, the mandates of senior officials working in the peace and security pillar would be maintained for until 1 April 2018. “The mandates of Jeffrey Feltman, as Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, as Assistant-Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, and Atul Khare, as Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, will be extended for one year,” the statement read. (@OnuItalia)